What Went Down On Night One Of The Second Democratic Debate

The exchange on immigration already feels less substantive, no? The candidates seem much less willing to attack each other and provide specifics about what they’re going to do.

The health care debate seemed to me like a struggle to frame the issue either in terms of consumer choice (a frame that has been a real problem for Democratic healthcare proposals — Bill Clinton’s, the ACA) versus a fairly new frame that focuses on the insurance industry and its alleged abuses.

Warren did a savvy thing earlier by answering “yes” to the question of decriminalizing illegal border crossings by speaking over the moderator when she answered — thus ensuring it couldn’t be used as a sound bite. But just now, she said, “One way to fix it is to decriminalize. That’s the point.” That’s a clip you might see in some general-election ads.